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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28899201">A Field Trip to Stark Industries</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightingIce/pseuds/LightingIce'>LightingIce</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Avengers Family, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, F/M, If you want - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, It sounds worse than it'll be in the story, M/M, Not Steve Friendly, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker's Field Trip to Stark Industries, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Harm, Tony and Strange are good parents, like not at all, maybe there'll be some more graphic chapter, not Peter centered</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:07:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,073</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28899201</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightingIce/pseuds/LightingIce</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Katherine, Peter's fake sister, is actually Tony's and Stephen's kid and now there is a field trip to her own home. Maybe she's also an Avenger, who knows. And maybe this field trip will reveal more than she is comfortable with and what consequences will there be?</p><p>Or: A typical trip to SI with the aftermath of it</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Loki/Original Female Character, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Tom Hiddleston/Loki/Original Female Character(s), Tony Stark/Stephen Strange</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>67</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Really? A field trip to SI? How original</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay so, this is my first story and it will include the field trip and the aftermath, maybe even a sequel if you want to know what happened to Steve and Tony.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Okay, class, next week our field trip will be to...” Katherine was sitting in the last class of the day, ready to get home. Mr. Warren walked up to the front of the class to generate more excitement before finishing up his sentence, “...Stark Industries.” </p><p>Most of the class was excited, both Ned and MJ looked at Katherine and Peter, and they just sat there. Katherine had a million thoughts running in her head. Of course, she would be the one kid to get to go on a field trip to her own home, and Peter would tour his second home. Really, it was just great.</p><p>“Settle down, please! There's still some information I have to give you. It will be a field trip from Friday to Sunday. You should also bring something you can move well in as we will also be training with some Avengers. Even more excited chatter broke out and when the bell rang Mr. Warren could barely scream that everyone also please take the paper with the additional information.</p><p>////////////</p><p>“Peter, Katherine, could you both stay a minute? I have to talk to you,” Mr. Warren called out as they were about to leave, great.</p><p> “We'll wait outside for you,” Ned said with an apologetic look and mouthing that Peter will have to tell him what their teacher said. </p><p>“Okay, I know that you want to have the respect of your peers but, you can't keep lying if it comes out that you lied about having an internship no other class from this school will ever get permission for a trip. You both have until the end of the field trip to come out with the truth, or there will be severe consequences for you.” It took a moment for both of them to realize what he meant by that. </p><p>“Wait, you don't believe us? It's real, I promise Mr. Warren.”</p><p>“Peter, I know you feel like you can't tell the truth, but this has been going on for too long.”</p><p>“You will see the truth soon enough,” Katherine retorted, and before he could say anything else, they left. </p><p>Outside the classroom, Flash had been waiting for them.</p><p>“Ha, Penis, guess we will all see that you really lied now.” Oh, if the Avengers would see that Flash bullies Peter, he would regret his whole life. </p><p>“Leave my brother alone, Flash,” Katherine and Peter weren't real siblings, they didn't even live together, but they shared the same last name, Parker. Katherine had been adopted by Tony and Dr. Strange when she was seven after the very public divorce of Tony and Steve. The latter hasn't been seen since.</p><p>Before that, she had been adopted by Tony and Steve when she was three because Fury had apparently found a kid with superpowers and wanted her to be safe, which didn't quite work out with Steve around the house.</p><p>After the divorce, Tony and Stephen started dating, and not long after that, Stephen legally became her second dad, even though she had secretly referred to him as 'dad' long before that.</p><p>So she could have a semi-normal childhood while living with the Avengers, Tony and Stephen decided to send her to Midtown School of Science and Technology. So she wouldn't stand out, May, Peter and the other three agreed that Katherine would pretend to be Peter's sister, which had worked until now but if they would tour the tower the secret wouldn't be a secret for long.</p><p>Kate and her dads however also decided to reveal her to the world in about a month as she would be done with school anyway at that point, so her classmates knowing her secrets wasn't that much of a problem, just annoying.</p><p>////////////////// </p><p>“Great, how are we going to keep it a secret now that we are going to spend a week with them?” Peter groaned.</p><p>“I have no idea, but at least it won't be boring,” Katherine tried to cheer him up. </p><p>“Probably more embarrassing than anything I'd say. Can you at least try to convince Mr. Stark to not be embarrassing?”</p><p>“Trust me, I've tried, and it hasn't worked in the last fourteen years.” </p><p>"Only your lives can be like this. You're both literally visiting your home as a school event," Ned laughed at the two while MJ smirked, which was her way of laughing.</p><p>Ned and MJ knew that Peter was Spiderman and Katherine wasn't really his sister and was living at the tower with the Avengers, they visited a few times with Peter, though they haven't met the Avengers yet, except Tony, Dr. Strange, Bruce, and Pepper. All of them would usually spend their time in Peter's lab or occasionally in a random lab where Bruce was working, while Katherine was working in her lab, which she didn't want anyone outside the tower, except Peter, to see. </p><p>What Peter, MJ, and Ned didn't know, was, that Pepper and Bruce wanted to hire them as interns and that Katherine was Phantom, as the media had nicknamed her. </p><p>Phantom joined the Avengers about two years ago when Kate and Nat were on their way to get takeout and were attacked by some criminals, and like on instinct, she made her armor appear, pulled her mask up, and joined Nat in her fight. She had experience in fighting and it took them a few seconds to take them all out. </p><p>The media, of course, picked up on it, and on the next day, every newspaper covered the story with many theories surrounding 'Phantom', which they called her because of her black and dark blue outfit. Tony, Stephen, and Kate then agreed to hold a press conference to clear up all confusion and introduce her as the newest Avenger.<br/>
Although that didn't stop the theories about who this mysterious girl really was.</p><p>/////////////////////////////</p><p>
  <em>Flashback</em>
</p><p>Stephen, Tony, and Kate waited for Pepper to give them a sign to come out into a room with around 50 reporters to stand on a stage before them and correct all facts. She, of course, had her disguise.</p><p>Everyone would be staring at her. She never was in the center of attention of so many people. Maybe she shouldn't have joined Aunt Nat in the fight. But it was an instinct for her. It's not like she could have let her fight alone. But she could have handled-</p><p>"Hey Kid, you alright there?" Tony asked her before she could spiral into a full-blown panic attack.</p><p>She hadn't even noticed that she was nearly hyperventilating. </p><p>"Hey, shh, it's alright, just breathe with me. In and out, in and out. That's right, that's right, my little dragonfly," Stephen hugged his daughter and made her do a breathing exercise to calm her nerves. </p><p>"Everything's gonna be okay, I promise. This bimbo will be the one talking and all eyes will be on him. I will be in the back supporting you. You just have to demonstrate a few of your powers."</p><p>"Why don't you come out too?" Katherine asked her magical father.</p><p>"Well, we want to keep our relationship secret for at least a bit longer." That's right, she almost forgot. Tony and Stephen never made it public that they were married, though they had planned to reveal that when they would reveal their daughter.</p><p>"Kiddo, are you coming, it's time," Tony spoke up from the door to the press conference room.</p><p>After this, they walked out of the room and everything went surprisingly smooth. Tony explained that Phantom was now an official Avenger and that she had experience in fighting from training with the Avengers since she could walk.  </p><p>Kate then showed some of her abilities, like telekinesis, which she could use without even lifting a finger, and her armor, which she had designed nearly all by herself (with a bit of help from her dad of course).</p><p>Her armor was a dark blue tunic with a black and slightly lighter blue knee-length skirt (because her overprotective family wouldn't let her wear anything shorter even though she also had leggings on). She also had arm protectors that consisted of multiple parts and looked like the scales of a dragon, with a small screen so she could quickly pull up stuff she needed. As a matter-of-fact, she had her own AI, called Frank. On top of that, she had a dark gray cloak with glowing blue stripes and a mask to hide her identity. </p><p>What wasn't revealed that day was that she could hide any scars she had on her body, which was a blessing when she was supposed to go to school, as the scar across Phantom's left eye was her most recognizable trait. The scar itself was something she got during a fight not long after she joined the Avengers.</p><p>//////////////////// </p><p>
  <em>At the tower</em>
</p><p>“Thai or Chinese? You're the tie-breaker, Kate,” Sam asked as soon as she entered the penthouse. </p><p>“Neither, you know dad won't let me off this one diet, right?”</p><p>“Oh yeah, totally forgot about this. Anyway, then we have to get both. Bucky-!”</p><p>The diet was something Stephen had set up for her as she had been captured by Hydra a few months ago. There she had been severely tortured and when the Avengers found her after three months, she was nothing more than a scarred thing starved to the bones.</p><p>After they took her home and her gravest injuries had healed, at least the physical ones, another major physical problem was her malnutrition. Because she had been starved for so long, her body needed to adapt to the food slowly and she wasn't allowed to eat too much or too little.</p><p>Since then, well, she had been only allowed out of the medbay for around two weeks at this point, she got her food from one of the cafeterias delivered to the penthouse, or Dr. Dad, as she called him, would cook for her, because he was, contrary to popular belief, an actually decent cook. </p><p>However, why she was even allowed on a field trip where they would not only look at a bunch of stuff but also train with the Avengers while she was still underweight, was a mystery to her. </p><p>Maybe they wanted to have her in their field of view? They certainly were a bit overprotective. Well, she would figure out what to do while the others were training another time.</p><p>Katherine didn't hear the rest when the elevator's doors closed, and she made her way to Tony's lab. </p><p>“Dad, are you here?” </p><p>“Hey kid, yeah, I''m here. How was school?” Tony said, saving some projects and turning off the holograms. </p><p>“It was alright. Remember when I told you about that field trip we have this week?” </p><p>“Yeah, of course, I do. Where was it to again?” </p><p>“They told us today. We are going here.” </p><p>“Here? You mean as in “you're going to SI?” Tony looked confused. </p><p>“Yes, and Peter wants you to not be embarrassing, so it would be cool if you could at least try to be decent for one weekend. Oh, and if we don't prove we have an internship there will be 'severe consequences'. Our teacher thinks we're lying,” a plan already started to form in Tony's head. </p><p>“Oh, he will believe you at the end of this field trip,” a mischievous grin was now plastered on his face. </p><p>This was gonna be fun.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sooooooo,<br/>this was the first chapter. Next chapter the field trip will actually start. Idk when I'll update next but I will try to do it as soon as possible. </p><p>Also, I would really like to hear your feedback for this so far and maybe some ideas you have, and do you want the backstory for Stony?</p><p>Byee :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The dreaded day of the field trip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>tw: there will be panic attacks in this chapter</p><p>ok, so I never experienced a panic attack myself and I don't really know if I've written it accurately. I would love to know if something is off and I'll change it as soon as possible.</p><p>Also, I had half of this chapter written already when I published the first one so I don't know when the next one will be finished.</p><p>Anyway, feedback is appreciated and genuinely thank you for all the kudos and bookmarks already, enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>The day of the field trip</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Dragonfly, you need to leave in 15 minutes, or you will be late for your field trip,” Friday announced. Katherine smirked at her father's nickname while rubbing her eyes, she was too tired after staying up till 2 am to finish a design for a project in her lab.  </p><p> </p><p>“Why do I have to go to school just to go back home, dad?” she asked, groaning.  </p><p> </p><p>“Because I'm sure the teacher would appreciate it if all students would be present from the start,” Stephen answered. Kate just rolled her eyes. </p><p> </p><p>"But you have to admit it is pretty pointless." </p><p> </p><p>"Yeah, but there is nothing I can change about it. Oh, and Tony told me that, apparently, the Devil has broken out of prison." </p><p> </p><p>What. </p><p> </p><p>No, that couldn't be true. </p><p> </p><p>He was supposed to be gone forever.   </p><p> </p><p>Now he would come for dad and Dr. Dad and it would all be like all those years ago. </p><p> </p><p>It was all her fault he was sent there. </p><p> </p><p>She couldn’t see. She couldn’t breathe. Where was she? Where were her dads? Where they safe-. </p><p> </p><p>"Katherine, can you hear me?" a panicked Stephen tried to calm her down again. "Shit, I shouldn't have told her that now. I'm such an idiot," he muttered under his breath. </p><p> </p><p>Kate felt her hand being placed on a chest. She felt it rising and falling and tried to copy that movement. </p><p> </p><p>A few minutes later her eyes slowly focused again. She could breathe again. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey, Kate,  it’s alright now. I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have told you that without a warning. He won’t be coming here, never.” </p><p> </p><p>“And we all will make sure of that,” Nat with the others suddenly appeared behind Stephen, causing him to jump in his chair, making Katherine giggle at her superhero dad who was scared of her aunt. </p><p> </p><p>“Traitor,” he mumbled with a mock hurt look on his face. </p><p> </p><p>“Drama-Queen,” Kate retorted. </p><p> </p><p>“Dragonfly. I would suggest you leave now or you will be late for your field trip,” Friday all of a sudden spoke up. </p><p> </p><p>“Thanks, Fri. Already leaving,” with that she hugged everyone quickly, grabbed her bag with (nearly) all her stuff that she would need for the next days because she was sure her teachers wouldn’t let a student out of sight after Peter was disappearing at every field trip up until this point, especially because they didn’t believe them about their internship and made her way down to an already waiting Happy.  </p><p> </p><p>Well, technically, her teachers were right about not believing her about the internship because she didn’t have one, only Peter did.  </p><p> </p><p>/////////////////  </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>At school</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, everyone is finally here. Now please get into the bus and remember to behave at SI, you all represent our school,” Mr. Warren reminded the excited students. He looked tired already. But at least he wasn't alone. Mr. Cobbwell, the biology teacher, joined him on this trip.  </p><p> </p><p>“Hey, Kate, can I sit next to you?” Flash asked, being uncharacteristically nice and shy. He always had a thing for Katherine.  </p><p> </p><p>“No, and fuck off Flash. Don't play nice if you aren't,” Katherine retorted, sighing. This was going to be a long week if her boyfriend wouldn't show up soon.  </p><p> </p><p>“But I am nice. In fact, you just missed out on the best boyfriend in the whole world. You'd have to find a real prince from another world to top me!” Flash said angrily and stomped away. Ned, Peter, and Kate burst out laughing, even MJ chuckled.  </p><p> </p><p>“Oh, you would be surprised.”  </p><p> </p><p>The rest of the drive consisted of Flash bullying Peter because of his fake internship and the four friends theorizing about what the Avengers would do to embarrass them. </p><p> </p><p>At the tower, everyone, except Peter and Katherine, was amazed, even Ned, even though he had been at the tower multiple times with Peter and MJ didn’t look as dismissive as usual. </p><p> </p><p>“Pepper really is doing an amazing job,” she always said when they were at the tower. </p><p> </p><p>“I think we have to organize an interview for MJ with Pepper and maybe even Nat and the others for MJ as a birthday gift at some point,” Kate whispered to Peter. </p><p> </p><p>“I think she would die of shock if that happened,” Peter laughed. </p><p> </p><p>“What are you laughing at, losers?” </p><p> </p><p>“Nothing!” both of them answered a little too quickly. </p><p> </p><p>“Everyone in the tower, the impressive part is still to come,” Mr. Cobbwell said, saving them from an explanation.  </p><p> </p><p>In the lobby, everyone was even more impressed to finally be standing in the famous Avengers Tower.  </p><p> </p><p>“Hello, you are the students from Midtown, right? I'm Maria and will be your tour guide for today,” the tour guide, Maria, said after she spotted the lost-looking group. She had brown hair, which she kept in a bun, and the standard SI tour guide uniform. She looked rather fit, which was a bit unusual for the scientists here at SI. Neither Katherine nor Peter knew her or have ever even seen her. Maybe she was new but considering that they never really went into the lower labs it wasn't that big of a surprise. They barely knew anyone in the tower. </p><p> </p><p>“I have your badges here with your name and the picture you had to send in a week ago. These are Level 1 Guest badges and must be visible at all times, or you'll be kicked out of the building. We take security very seriously here. After your field trip, as soon as you leave this building, your badges will no longer function. Anyway, when I call your name, please come forward and get your badge. Eugene Thompson...”  </p><p> </p><p>After everyone got their badge, Mr. Warren spoke up. “I'm sorry, there must be a mistake, two of my students didn't get a badge.” </p><p> </p><p>“Oh, did you guys send in a picture? I can go and look if we have yours lying around somewhere here.”  </p><p> </p><p>“That won't be necessary, we both already have one,” Katherine answered, and she and Peter got theirs from their backpacks. They had designed theirs themselves. Peter's was blue and had one red stripe at the top and one at the bottom and Katherine had a black badge with three stripes. The top one was red, the middle one blue and the last one green. All colors represented the people close to her. </p><p> </p><p>Flash immediately asked, “Why do Parker and Kate have a different looking badge?”  </p><p> </p><p>“That's what I wanted to tell you now. Here at SI, we have ten different levels for security reasons. Guests are level 1 and have a white card. Janitors and receptionists have levels 2-3 and their color is yellow. Tour guides, like myself, are level 4 and have an orange card. Lower interns have levels 5-6 and a red card, while higher interns have levels 7-8 and a purple badge, depending on their area of specialty. The Avengers that aren't allowed in private labs, like Mr. Stark's one, have a level 9 badge, and people that are allowed in the private labs have a level 10 badge, though all level 9 and 10 badges are designed by each individual and don't have a specific color. However, you'll rarely see any Avenger running around with a badge as Friday, Mr. Stark's AI recognizes them and some rumors even state that he has developed a chip that acts as a badge.”  </p><p> </p><p>At this, Katherine felt the chip in her left wrist. It was small and still in development, but it was usable and if they were going to eat in the cafeteria, she would have to use that one to get hers as she had all her data stored in it and not on her badge anymore. The only reason she didn't use it now was that Tony reactivated her badge, so she wouldn't reveal the chip and her identity, but it wasn't reprogrammed to work in the cafeteria too.  </p><p> </p><p>Before Flash asked any other questions, Maria led the teens to a scanner and showed how it worked.  </p><p> </p><p>“So, if you want to enter a room, you have to scan your badge and, depending on the floors we're going to today, either Friday or a simple text-to-speech bot will announce your name, your clearance level, and if you have any weapons on you.” With that, she swiped her badge through the scanner.  </p><p> </p><p>“Maria Sakkari, Level 3, no authorized weapons,” a robotic voice announced.  </p><p> </p><p>The teens looked around to where the voice came from every time someone scanned their batch until only Peter and Kate were left.  </p><p> </p><p>“Peter Parker, Level 10, 1 authorized weapon. Welcome back, Underoos, Boss and The Strongest Avenger have been notified of your arrival.”  </p><p> </p><p>“Thanks, Fri.”  </p><p> </p><p>“Katherine Strange-Stark, Level 10, 4 authorized weapons. Welcome back, Dragonfly, Boss, Reindeer, and Dr. Magic have been notified of your arrival.”  </p><p> </p><p>"Wait, Loki's back? He told me he shouldn't be back for another few days at least. Can you tell him I won’t be able to have lunch with them?” </p><p> </p><p>“Of course.” </p><p> </p><p>“Thanks, Fri.”   </p><p> </p><p>When Katherine looked at her class, everyone was staring at Peter and her, and then all hell broke loose.  </p><p> </p><p>“Are you related to the Tony Stark?” </p><p>“How did you get a level 10 badge, Penis?” </p><p>“Is Ironstrange really a thing?” </p><p>“What are those nicknames?” </p><p> </p><p>But after everyone had calmed down a little, Mr. Warren grabbed Kate’s wrist and yelled. </p><p> </p><p>“Why do you have four weapons on you? This is unacceptable. Hand them over now. I don’t know how you made it so that they are authorized but I won’t have someone with a weapon around my students.” </p><p> </p><p>But Katherine didn’t see or hear him anymore. She was back again in the penthouse, around ten years ago. Steve was in front of her, yelling about something and holding her wrist too tightly. It was sure to leave a bruise. What did she do wrong this time? She had done nothing wrong, really. But she couldn’t talk. It was like she was suffocating. She couldn’t breathe again-. </p><p> </p><p>“-n you hear me, Kate? Could you look at me?” Steve vanished and instead, MJ was in front of her, telling her to just breathe, and it worked. To calm her down even more, MJ told her what happened. It wasn’t the first time something like this happened and she had learned that knowing what happened always calmed her down.  </p><p> </p><p>“So, Peter and Ned pulled him off you as soon as possible and Maria had ushered everyone into the elevator to leave us alone. She told us we could catch up and that they were on the 24th floor.”  </p><p> </p><p>“Thank you, MJ. And you too,” Kate shouted the last part at Ned and Peter. A small smile crawled on her face and they made their way to the elevator, leaving a confused and angry teacher behind. She loved her friends.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Soooo, what do you think of this chapter? And do you want a chapter about the things that happened between Tony/Steve/Strange and Kate?<br/>Let me know in the comments!</p><p>And I would really appreciate feedback because it's my first fanfiction and English is also not my first language.</p><p>Byee  :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. A New Tour Guide</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heyy, soooo, here is the third chapter. It is a bit longer than the last two and the field trip has finally started.</p><p>Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It appears that Dragonfly had a panic attack, sir.” </p><p>“What? Was there a trigger, Friday?” Loki asked before Tony could react. Friday just played the clip of the events that happened a few minutes ago on the big TV screen in the living room. </p><p>After the clip, which everyone had seen because Clint, Bucky, and Nat were originally going to play Mario Kart, Bruce was sipping on his fifth morning coffee, Tony and Stephen were making out in a corner, and Thor and Loki just arrived in the penthouse to greet everyone, chaos erupted. </p><p>Out of nowhere, there were three broken controllers and a broken cup of coffee on the ground. Stephen was trying to hold his husband from calling his suit to kill the man, Loki already had his daggers in his hands and a storm was slowly coming with thunder heard in the distance. </p><p>“He will pay for this!” Tony spoke up and everyone agreed. </p><p>“Okay, yes, he will pay for this but we can’t kill him, dear, alright?” Stephen immediately interjected before they could all run off to kill him. </p><p>“Then what should we do?” Loki almost desperately asked. </p><p>“We can only try to protect her,” Pepper sighed from the elevator, startling everyone. She had also seen the video and knew that they all would try to kill this man, so she came as fast as she could to stop them before they did anything irrational.<br/>
“And how are we going to do that from here? We need someone down there to keep their eyes on our kids,” Tony thought out loud. </p><p>“I could do that,” Harley spoke up behind Pepper. He was her intern and followed her basically everywhere though he also lived at the tower and was basically also a part of the family. </p><p>“Hm, well, I guess they wouldn’t recognize you and you are old enough to pass as an actual intern and not just a random boy,” Loki agreed. </p><p>“Hey, I am an intern! And how am I going to watch them without it being too obvious? Anyone got any ideas?”</p><p>“Have you ever been a tour guide, H?” Clint asked and with that, they started to form a plan so Katherine, Peter, and their helpful friends would stay safe. </p><p>//////////////////////////</p><p>“Miss Sakkari, you are needed in lab 34,” Friday’s voice announced just as Kate and the others arrived on the 24th floor, where Maria was just explaining the rules to the others about never touching something without permission in this building or it would most likely blow up.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Friday, tell them I’m leading a tour right now.” Some teens jumped a bit, not being used to Friday.</p><p>“Another tour guide is already on the way, Miss Sakkari.”</p><p>“And who would that be? There aren’t many interns, at least as far as I know, that would volunteer to lead a tour.” That was true, many were running purely on coffee and just didn’t have the nerves to deal with children.</p><p>“Harley Keener,” came the reply when the doors to the private elevator opened and Harley stepped out, scanning the crowd of students for his boyfriend.</p><p>“We are so screwed,” Peter hid his face in his hands. </p><p>“Oh, come on Pete. You haven’t seen him in weeks and now he is our tour guide,” Ned tried to cheer him up.</p><p>“Ned, he’s scared of what’ll follow. I have a slight feeling Dad had a part in this and it won’t be the last time we’ll see a part of our family,” Kate answered, while already imagining all the ways the Avengers could embarrass them.</p><p>“Do you think this is because of Mr. Warren?” MJ asked, but before anyone could answer her question, Harley spoke up.</p><p>“Okay, Peter’s class. I’m Harley and I’m going to lead this tour from now on. Also, remember, there is a zero-tolerance of bullying and harassment in this building. If I see anyone misbehave, you will be thrown out immediately,” he ended his speech with a glare towards Flash and Mr. Warren.<br/>
“But what about our things? They have already been brought to the rooms that were assigned to the students,” Mr. Cobbwell asked innocently, genuinely not getting the seriousness of the situation.</p><p>“Don’t worry, they will be retrieved by the security in this tower. Anyway, did Maria tell you what you’ll do today?”</p><p>A round of No’s was heard from the students.</p><p>“Alrighty, so, as you can see, we’re on the floor with the Avengers museum. You will have around 45 minutes to look around. If you have any additional questions you can always ask me. After you will see all kinds of different labs that are in this tower and you will have the chance to take the standard entry test so you can see if you would have a chance at interning here. It will be split into two parts but I’ll tell you more about that later. Then you’ll have a lunch break and after that, there is a surprise for all of you.”</p><p>The students all started cheering at that, well, except four.</p><p>“So, now you can walk around here and we’ll meet here at this elevator again in 45 minutes. Friday will give you a reminder about that.” With that everyone quickly grabbed their friends and they all scattered around the huge museum. </p><p>Ned pulled Peter to the Spider-Man exhibit and the girls followed them. </p><p>“Woah, Peter, you have your own exhibit. How cool is that?! Look, there’s your old suit and here are even some unknown facts about you! Wait, you are afraid of spiders?”</p><p>“Yes, he is,” a voice suddenly said from behind.</p><p>“Wha-, Harley, you Traitor!” Peter exclaimed before Harley shut him up with a quick kiss.</p><p>“Don’t think you can hide from me,” Harley said with a smirk. Katherine groaned.</p><p>“Let me guess, the dads?” Katherine had her suspicion. Harley nodded and they went on to look at the others’ exhibits.</p><p>When they arrived at the extra big section for the women of the Avengers, which Tony made sure would be the most impressive one even while there weren’t as many of them. </p><p>“Hey, losers, they even have an exhibit for Phantom,” MJ said somewhat excited at all the information about the most powerful women. Because of this extraordinary occasion, everyone quickly walked over to her.</p><p>“Woah, I think I’ve never even heard of this stuff about her, well, most of it,” Peter admitted and Katherine smirked. </p><p>So, they began to read all the fun facts about Phantom, like </p><p>‘Phantom is actually the one that works on many of the Avengers’ weapons.’<br/>
‘She is the youngest Avenger and still goes to school.’<br/>
‘She has daggers hidden literally everywhere and is not afraid to use them’<br/>
‘The Black Widow is basically her mother’<br/>
‘Spider-Man is like her brother’</p><p> </p><p>“She goes to school? Is there a chance she goes to our school? Wait, maybe she is in our grade,” Ned started asking one question after another to try and get Peter to slip up and tell them something about her identity.</p><p>Before he could do that, Kate jabbed Peter in his ribs and Harley slapped a hand over his mouth. Then Flash walked over and started his usual monologue about Peter never being good enough like ‘The Great Spider-Man’.</p><p>“Hey, Kate, do you wanna sit with me at lunch?”</p><p>“I told you before and I’ll say it again. I’m not interested and I already have a boyfriend.”</p><p>“Oh, and can someone prove that? You always talk about him but he never shows up anywhere. Maybe he’s just imagination!”</p><p>“Hey kid, I can smell your jealousy coming from a mile away and also, quick warning, if you don’t stop harassing these precious two geniuses.” Clint jumped out of the vents without an announcement, making Flash let out a loud yelp and stumbled into Kate, making her bump against a sharp corner of a random exhibit.</p><p>“Hawkeye? Why are you defending Pen- Parker? He is lying about an internship here, technically, he should be thrown out of here.”</p><p>“Listen here, if I ever hear you say anything like this ever again, I will-”</p><p>“Bucky, stop! We talked about this. We don’t kill minors, remember?” Katherine immediately rushed up to Bucky, who stepped out of the shadows, and hugged him so he could focus on her and not Flash.</p><p>“And what should I do instead?”</p><p>“Maybe you could bake some of your famous cookies, hmm? I think dad wouldn’t mind if I change up my diet just a little bit today,” she suggested, smiling at Bucky with puppy eyes.</p><p>Bucky sighed, “Fine, but only this one time, okay?” And with that Bucky and Clint left the room to report to Tony but not without sending a death-glare towards Flash.</p><p>////////////////////////////</p><p>After the 45 minutes were up, Harley lead everyone into the elevator and took them to different floors, and showed them what they did, like prosthetics that were affordable for everyone and even some AI’s that were still in development but would soon be helping in hospitals.</p><p>Everyone had been amazed, even Kate and Peter. They never really saw what was happening in the lower labs, they just designed some things with Shuri and Harley for these labs to turn into reality, like the AI. </p><p>“Friday, could you take us to floor 56?” Harley asked the AI.<br/>
“Of course, Mini CEO.”</p><p>Arriving on the 56th floor, everyone scanned their badges, already being kinda used to the AI and Kate and Peter’s weird nicknames and the weapons. </p><p>Lab 56 didn’t look like the typical lab but rather like a classroom of some sort. There were desks with a sheet of paper and a robot-thingy on each one and they were assembled like a circle. Because of the floor-to-ceiling windows, it was very bright as the sun had just come out paired with the bright lights in the lab itself. </p><p>Both Katherine and Peter weren’t really fond of anything too bright. Peter because of his senses being dialed up to eleven and Kate because, while the scar across her eye wasn’t visible, it still had damaged her eye and now she couldn’t stand anything too bright.</p><p>“Frank, could you dim the lights?” Katherine whispered into her watch, on which her AI had been installed. The lights were dimmed instantly and everyone was a bit surprised at that.</p><p>“Thanks.” Frank was more of a silent supporter AI and only talked if he felt like he needed to.</p><p>“Alright students, here is Dr. Verdasco. He will explain the rules of this test to you and will look them over at the end.” Harley introduced the doctor who was at most in his early thirties with dark hair and a lab coat with some holes burned into it.</p><p>“Thank you, Harley, I told you to call me Fernando, remember? Anyway,” he turned to the students, “you will have about one and a half hours to accomplish both parts of the test. The first part will consist of a test with about 15 questions and you will have 30 minutes to answer them at most. Then you will have an hour to finish a small robot that you already have a prototype of on each of your desks. I will also walk around with your tour guide here and make sure no one cheats and, usually, I don’t look every test over but it seems my assistants that are actually higher up than me couldn’t come today.”</p><p>“They are here, actually,” MJ quickly interjected. A quiet ‘Traitor’ was heard from her two friends.</p><p>“Really? I thought they were in school.”</p><p>“Well, we are, Dr. Verdasco, but we are here on a field trip with our class,” Kate spoke up shyly.</p><p>“Oh, only your lives could be this strange but that is actually great, there is no point in you taking the test anyway and we all can make sure that no one cheats.”</p><p>“No, no, no. These are my students, Dr., and they will take the test even if they claim to have an internship here,” Mr. Warren suddenly said from the back of the group.</p><p> </p><p>“What are you talking about? Peter and Katherine here are the ones that came up with the idea for a test for tour groups and they have all rights to do what they want in this tower because as far as I know, my clearance level doesn’t even allow me to talk back to them.”</p><p>With that, and a jab from Mr. Cobbwell, Mr. Warren shut up and all the students, except Katherine and Peter, started to work on their tests. </p><p> </p><p>If only Kate had paid more attention to the sharp corner.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Soo, what do you think so far? I appreciate every comment/kudos I get :D<br/>I've also read that you are interested in the backstory and there will definitely be a chapter about that at some point but I can't say when.<br/>And you maybe also noticed that I've borrowed the names of some tennis players for the staff at SI<br/>And sorry-not-sorry for the cliffhanger.  </p><p>Byee</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Something Went Wrong</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: mention of self-harm<br/>it will only be discussed shortly and there won't be anything graphic<br/>This chapter is also a bit shorter than usual</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Black.  </p><p>Everything Katherine could see was black, and it made her squirm on the bed she was laying on. </p><p>Wait, since when was she in a bed? Something that could only be answered if she opened her eyes. </p><p>When she did do just one word came to her mind.</p><p>Bright, bright, bright. It was too bright to see anything. Suddenly, it was as if the light was nearly gone. Kate blinked a few times before she opened her eyes fully again. </p><p> </p><p>“Thanks,” she mumbled and got a quick kiss on her temple as a response. “Do you know what happened, Loki?” </p><p>“I don't really know. All I can say is that you apparently lost a lot of blood and lost your consciousness.” </p><p>“Shit, that must have been that one sharp corner. How long was I out?” </p><p>“Not for long. It’s like your body is used to this kind of stuff.” </p><p>Then, Katherine tried to sit up without success and Loki carefully helped her. Unfortunately for her, her sleeve had rolled up because of that. And one very annoying thing about her powers was that they would stop working when she was too weak. Of course, Loki noticed. </p><p>He grabbed her wrist and stared at her with a look that could only be described as disappointment, sadness, and maybe even a bit of anger. </p><p>Kate tried to pull away, but she was no match for the strength of a god.  </p><p>“Please don’t tell my dads,” Katherine couldn’t meet Loki’s eyes out of shame. She knew how harmful this was for her, and that Loki would have found out she hasn’t stopped, at one point or another, but she couldn’t find it in her to stop when Loki was in Asgard. She had felt so alone and this made her feel like she could control at least one part of her life.  </p><p>Her family was great and she wouldn’t trade it for anything, but they and their lifestyle made it impossible to have any stability in your life and it drove her crazy. </p><p>Loki took her chin and turned her face so he could see those eyes he had missed so much for the last month.  </p><p>“I won’t tell them now, but I have to tell them soon if you don’t do it.” Loki sighed. “Listen, love, they are your parents and they deserve to know what is going on with you. I will hide them for you for now and if you don’t tell them soon, I am forced to reveal your secret, my dear.” He sighed again. “May I kiss you?” </p><p>Kate nodded and they kissed gently. Oh, how she had missed those soft lips, never forceful and always asking for consent. </p><p>“Ew, guys, get a room!”  </p><p>Tony and Stephen entered the hospital-like room all of a sudden, however, Loki and Kate weren’t startled, it was a rare occasion to be alone in this building for longer periods. And Tony’s childish behavior was something you had to accept, though he never meant anything bad by it. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” Katherine waved at her parents, now without any visible bandages and a small grin playing on her face. It seemed; she was the only one, who was happy, the others too concerned about her to smile. </p><p>Tony swiftly walked over and hugged her; Stephen stayed behind a bit.  </p><p>“You scared us. Harley said you just fainted, out of nowhere. What happened?” </p><p>“Well, according to her medical report, some of the cuts opened up again and she lost a lot of blood because of it,” Stephen piped up, having already stolen the report from god knows where.  </p><p> </p><p>“Great, now you ruined our plan,” Tony whined, trying to lighten up the mood. </p><p>“What plan?” </p><p>“Well...” </p><p>“Friday informed us that you had a panic attack and these idiots wanted to kill him. Because that obviously isn’t the right thing to do, I convinced them to not do that and we made a plan to protect you all and maybe to also show these idiots you actually know us.” Now even Stephen was grinning. </p><p>“Hey! I wasn’t going just to kill them! They were supposed to suffer first.”  </p><p>“Anyway...I’m just not going to question that. Do you know when I can get out of here, dad?”  </p><p>“You should technically stay here for a while, but that would be no fun. And you need your food. Isn’t that right, doctor?” Loki asked. </p><p>“Well-” </p><p>“I have an idea, family lunch in the cafeteria!” Tony interrupted the doctor. </p><p>Stephen smiled at his husband's antics and felt proud that he was one of the reasons he could be that way now and didn’t have to hide it. It brought up a warm feeling in his chest of which he knew it wouldn’t leave soon.  </p><p>All of them knew happiness usually didn’t last long in this family, but they always tried to keep it up as long as possible, so all of them agreed, though a certain god was a bit reluctant. </p><p>Loki tensed up a bit when they started to walk to the elevator so they could go down to the cafeteria, and it wasn’t because Katherine was leaning on him. When she noticed, she took his hand in hers and smiled reassuringly at him, which caused him to relax a bit. </p><p>It wasn’t that he didn’t like spending time with Katherine and her family. He still felt guilty for attacking New York and being alone with the Strange-Stark's often lead to uncomfortable situations that reminded someone in some way of New York. It has gotten less over the months but Loki wasn’t keen on pushing his luck, scared he will be kicked out of the tower at some point. However, if it made his girlfriend happy, he would do whatever he could do to keep this joyful mood. </p><p>Meanwhile, Kate was glad she could spend time with her family after being away so long from them. She already nearly forgot the field trip she was supposed to be on. </p><p>///////////////////////// </p><p>“Since when do so many people use this cafeteria? This noise is unbearable,” Stephen complained when they arrived at floor 75, which was reserved for SI’s most qualified interns, and there aren’t that many of them.  </p><p>As soon as they entered the cafeteria, they saw the reason and chose to ignore it. So, they walked up to their special ‘Avengers’ counter’ as they liked to call it, or rather Clint did and they all adopted this term, where they all got their food, with Katherine having to scan her chip in her wrist so she could get what was right for her ‘diet’, as she rarely knew what she was supposed to eat. Another benefit of this was that it was registered whether she ate or not so she could be reminded to eat. </p><p>When they walked to the far back of the cafeteria, where there was an enclosed space for the Avengers so they could eat in peace, they didn’t stay unnoticed. A scream was heard before Mr. Warren started screaming. </p><p>“You monster! What are you doing here? You should be in Prison! Get away from my students!”  </p><p>Everyone knew exactly who he was talking about and it was as if the whole cafeteria froze. Somewhere, a plate fell down.  </p><p>The group of four, as well as Peter, MJ, Harley, and Ned tensed up and Loki’s eyes widened. Kate quickly took his hand and squeezed it to show him that he wasn't alone in this. Stephen readied himself for an attack, while Tony just glared at the teacher because no matter how much Loki might have hurt them in the past, he was now a part of their family and you always protect family. </p><p>Though before anyone could attack the teacher, Harley stood up to diffuse the situation. </p><p>“Mr. Teacher, we don’t tolerate such behavior in this building, and another remark like this will lead to you being kicked out. And for your information, Loki has been redeemed for everything that happened, as he was controlled, and I can assure you he has no intentions of harming any of your students.” </p><p>His speech managed to bring lower the tension and the interns started to chat as normal. To deescalate it even further, Kate and Loki walked over to where they wanted to go initially, while Tony was holding back Stephen so he wouldn’t attack the teacher this time.  </p><p>While the couple started to eat their long-awaited meal, Peter and his friends walked over with Harley having to (sadly) stay with the group of teenagers.  </p><p>“Hey guys, are you alright?” Ned asked. </p><p>“Yeah, I think so, just tired,” Katherine said leaning on her boyfriend’s shoulder. </p><p>“You scared us over there. What happened?” MJ asked, sitting down next to Kate. </p><p>“I don’t really know. Apparently, one of my cuts opened up again.” </p><p>Before the mood could dwindle even more, Bucky entered the cafeteria and walked over to them. </p><p>“Oh my god! Bucky! Did you make your cookies again?!” Peter nearly sprang up from his seat.  </p><p>“Yes, this time I could save them before Clint and Sam ate them all.” </p><p>Everyone loved whenever Bucky decided to bake. He regularly made cakes for everyone’s birthday, even for MJ and Ned. A plus side of his hobby was that it calmed him down whenever he felt like murdering someone for hurting his family.  </p><p>At some point, Stephen, now not so murderous, and Tony joined them again and they ate in peace and maybe, at some point, Katherine nodded of on Loki’s shoulder, and literally everyone may have taken a picture of a distressed Loki not knowing how to not disturb his girlfriend finally having a peaceful sleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sooooooooo, I'm realllyyy sorry for basically abandoning this story for about two months but I kinda fell into the pit that is the Sherlock Fandom and I wasn't really motivated to write. But I've decided that I will continue this story even if it takes me a lot longer to write a chapter.</p><p>I hope you liked this chapter! I'm happy that so many have already read it and I would like to hear any feedback you've got!</p><p>Byee :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Press Conference</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heyyy, I'm back again. This chapter is a bit shorter, however, it made sense to end the chapter earlier and the next chapters will probably be around this length so I will maybe update sooner. enjoyy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>At some point, Loki had brought his sleeping girlfriend to their room so she could recover properly. </p><p>Sadly, it wasn’t possible to sleep forever, and when it was around 3 pm he had to wake her up heavy heartedly.  </p><p>“Mhm, I don’t wanna,” Kate whined, pulling the covers over her head again.  </p><p>“You know, if you don’t get up now, I have to call Natasha and she will not be as nice.” Loki smiled. Nat had a reputation among the Avengers for being the worst person to be woken up by for multiple reasons. </p><p>“Fine,” she muttered and slowly got up, glaring at her definitely too amused boyfriend. “Frank, do you know where the group is right now?”  </p><p>“They are meeting all the Avengers right now on floor 84 and it seems they are disappointed that Phantom isn’t showing up.” </p><p>Katherine groaned, “Thanks Frank, but I can’t play this role right now, just tell them that I’m busy or something.” </p><p>“You still have to go down there, just not as Phantom, my dear.” </p><p>“I know,” she sighed. Kate tried to stand up, but suddenly she felt lightheaded, her vision grew blurry, and she collapsed. Before she could hit the floor, Loki caught her and held her until she felt strong enough to walk again, this time with support. After he helped her redress some of her wounds and put on some clean clothes, they went down to floor 84. </p><p>There the students had arrived just a few moments ago themselves and were choosing their seats.  </p><p>While Loki went to the front of the room to sit with the rest of the Avengers, Katherine spotted her friends arguing over something and decided to join them. </p><p>“Can we please just sit in the back? If they see me, I will literally die of embarrassment,” Peter whined, trying to persuade his boyfriend with puppy eyes.  </p><p>“You do know that they already know you’re here, right?” MJ said, but they still sat down in the last row, when they finally saw Kate. </p><p>“Hey, Kate, are you alright? You gave everyone quite a scare when you lost your consciousness back there,” Harley asked, his eyes full of concern like the rest of her friends’.  </p><p>“Yeah, I guess, thanks to you. Just a bit tired. Also, shouldn’t this conference be right after lunch? Did something happen?” </p><p>“Harley, Tony, and Stephen had a serious talk with our class after what happened today, especially after the thing with Loki,” Peter explained, now being the victim that had to endure a sleepy Kate leaning on him. </p><p>“Sometimes I forget you aren’t actually siblings,” Ned commented the situation. </p><p>Kate smiled at that. It was true, they both were always acting like siblings, considering they didn’t even know each other for that long. But it was great for both to have someone around their age around, who could understand the struggle of being a superhero while attending a school, which was something Peter couldn’t even really share with Harley because he wasn’t a superhero, though he didn’t mind that fact as much. He was still working for arguably one of the most powerful women in the world.  </p><p>The conference wasn’t exactly outstanding and like most of the other ones Katherine had been a part of, so she ignored most of it and tried to sleep until Flash decided to open his stupid mouth. </p><p>“Is it possible for high school students to intern at Stark Industries?” </p><p>He never learned, did he? </p><p>“If you’re asking in the hope of you being accepted her, the answer is no, we don’t allow minors to intern,” Tony answered glaring at Flash, but he didn’t care, because he, like every other student and the teachers turned to stare at Kate and Peter like they have been exposed just now. </p><p>“Peter and Katherine Parker, I told you that this has been going on for too long and while I did hope it wouldn’t be a lie, it is blatantly clear now that you have been lying to all of us. And know that this will have severe consequences for you,” Mr. Warren had walked over to them looking smug. </p><p>Normally, Kate might have panicked because it reminded her of someone and she couldn’t bear being the cause of someone’s anger, but something had clicked in her. She felt numb and didn’t care for the consequences that her next actions could have for her. She wouldn’t attack him or anything like that just simply stood up and after giving her teacher a look with eyes that looked like there was no life in them anymore, walked up to the front of the room with her chair and sat down between the two dads, who sat in the middle of the long table. </p><p>“You know what guys,” she began speaking in a monotonous voice, “I have been lying to you, I am not a Parker and I’m not an intern. My name is Katherine Strange-Stark and I live in the tower with my family that are the Avengers.” </p><p>No one of the superheroes at the table had tried to stop her, they would have revealed this in about a month anyway and they were too focused not to just kill this guy. They were in a very homicidal mood that day. Their tactic for not doing that was to eat the cookies Bucky had baked or otherwise, this teacher wouldn’t live another second. </p><p>After the ‘big reveal,’ the room immediately fell silent and you could hear a pin drop somewhere, probably Harley’s doing, and their jaws dropped. They had heard what the AI had said at the start of their tour and their behavior had been suspicious, but all the cool SI stuff had distracted them easily until now. </p><p>“If any of this information leaves this room, I promise you that you will regret ever hearing those words,” Natasha suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence, and the shocked looks changed into frightened. If the information got out too soon, it would probably all end in chaos. </p><p>“B- but how? I, I thought you were Peter’s brother,” Flash stuttered. </p><p>“Oh, he knows who I am, it would just make it too complicated to attend high school in this way, so we decided to make it look like Peter was my brother,” Kate answered, looking pleased with herself while Peter looked horrified at the prospect of her pulling him into this. </p><p>“But why him? You could have basically chosen anyone, like me.”  </p><p>“You know Flash, that is the exact reason why I didn’t choose you, you are selfish and a spoiled brat, who wants someone like that?” </p><p>Another student suddenly spoke up, “So how is it like living with the Avengers?”</p><p>"You know, it’s actually pretty funny once you get used to the constant attacks on your family or their murderous phases. They all actually have their own way of how you can calm them down from this.” </p><p>“Can you tell us what it is?” </p><p>Katherine smirked and gave a devil-like look to her family, before starting, “Bucky, for example, likes to bake, this always helps. Nat likes to braid her, usually Bucky’s, and Sam and Clint play Mario Kart. Thor and Bruce usually need some alone time but they are the ones I don't see that often so I can't guarantee anything. Tony and Stephen calm each other down, though sometimes you don’t want to see that and Loki is going to stay my secret.” </p><p> </p><p>And with that, it was like everything went back to normal, now with Katherine being included in the questions.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Soooooooooooo, what do you think of Kate's decision to reveal herself?<br/>I love reading your comments and am open to any kind of feedback!!<br/>Byee :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Flash is being kinda dumb</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Welllllllllllllll<br/>It's been a month again...<br/>I'm really sorry :/ but everything is slowly opening up here again and I don't have much time for writing anymore. but that doesn't mean I'll abandon this story. So, enjoy!!<br/>And thank you for 50+ kudos, I love you guyssssss</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“But what about Spiderman and Phantom? Aren’t they also living here?” Flash, of course, had to make a remark. </p><p>Yet, Katherine wasn’t particularly bothered, especially when she glanced at Peter, and you could see the panic in his face, while his friends were snickering and trying to not start laughing out loud.  </p><p>Before anyone could notice the weird situation in the back of the room, Kate spoke up, “Well, they usually spent time with their partner or their friends who are honestly just amazing.” </p><p>“Wait, are those friends normal, and do they know who they really are?” a rather popular girl of the class asked. </p><p>“In my opinion, no one is ‘normal’, everyone is special in some way, but if you mean that they aren’t an official part of the Avengers, then yes, and they know who the person behind the mask is.”  </p><p>A round of ‘whoas’ went around the room but the teens in the back and Katherine were tense. It was a risky thing to talk about the real identities of Peter and her, at least while they were still in school.  </p><p>But thankfully, the questions were moved to the other Avengers. At some point, while Bucky was being asked about his favorite recipe and whether he could publish a baking book in the future, Tony and Kate changed seats so they could sit next to their respective significant other.  </p><p>This (sadly) brought the attention back to them and so, the next question was, once again, directed at them. </p><p>“How long have you actually been living with the Avengers, Kate?” A classmate asked. </p><p>“Well, I was adopted by Tony when I was about three. So, it’s been nearly fifteen years.” </p><p>And then Flash finally lost all of his brains. </p><p>“So, you have been living with The Captain America before he went to prison, right? How was he like? I bet he was great. It was a mistake to lock him away.” </p><p>Flash truly had a death wish. It was a wonder he had survived this trip until now. </p><p>Loki carefully laid his hand over Katherine’s to remind her that she wasn’t alone and when he looked to his left, he saw Stephen do the same with Tony. He never actually met this man but he knew what he had done and he knew to not bring it up and he would make sure this kid would be removed from this field trip immediately because he knew his family could not be at peace if this kid would stay here for longer. And if there would be a funeral for him soon that would just be an accident. </p><p>“Friday, would you be so kind to call security and show this young man the way out?” </p><p>“Of course, Loki,” It was like Friday knew when not to call someone by their nickname. </p><p>“But you can’t do that!” Mr. Warren immediately spoke up. </p><p>“Yes, we can,” Stephen spoke up. “This is our home and he has just violated a primal rule of this tower. I assume you have informed the students of those before the trip? They had been sent to you a week ago.” He too was not in the mood for a friendly chat. It had taken him months of work with his husband and kid with the purpose that they wouldn’t flinch whenever someone was talking a bit louder or they were accidentally touched and he would not alone anyone that supported this piece of human shit to be around his most important part of his life. </p><p>Security arrived quickly and Flash was bring taken outside quickly and the tension faded away when MJ had started to ask questions again, which lead the others to follow suit. </p><p>When the time for questions was over, it was already late in the day, and after such an exciting day, most students were tired. Harley led the starstruck students to floor 80, where their rooms would be for the weekend, and left them there after giving Peter a quick kiss. </p><p>Kate had also had to stay there for the night  </p><p>“Alright guys,” Mr. Cobbwell started, “there are six rooms you can use. Mr. Warren and I have already assigned you your roommates. In the first room, there’ll be Betty...” </p><p>Peter and Ned were lucky enough to get a room alone for themselves and MJ and Kate ended up sharing the room across from the boys with another girl called Sophie. After everyone had settled into their rooms, Friday announced that they were allowed to visit basic labs and the cafeteria if they were in groups of at least three if they want to. </p><p>/////////////////////////// </p><p>
  <em>No!<br/>
No...<br/>
He was back?<br/>
But how?!<br/>
He was supposed to be locked up.<br/>
Dad and Pops have promised that I’ll never have to see him again.<em></em></em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“STOP! Get away from me! NO, no...” </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Kate shot out of bed with a gasp, sweat trickling down the sides of her face.<br/>
<em>No, no, no, no, no. <em><br/>
The dreams weren’t supposed to come back, they had fixed everything, everything was fine, everything was— </em></em></em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        <em>No, it wasn’t. And she knew it.  </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        <em>Apparently, she had torn the stitches she had gotten at the start of the trip during her nightmare and blood was seeping through her shirt. </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
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      <em>
        <em>She looked around the room to check if she had woken the others up. Because this wasn’t the case, she carefully got up and tiptoed to the door, and quickly escaped to the hallway. </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
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        <em>It was colder here and she began to shiver in her thin clothes. She had to get to the penthouse, fast, but the private elevator was right next to the teachers’ room and it would definitely wake them. Shit. She had to take the risk.  </em>
      </em>
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        <em>She didn’t have any luck today. Mr. Warren, of course, had heard her and the door sprang open before the elevator could arrive.  </em>
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        <em>“Why are you up at this hour, you shouldn’t be here. Because of you we will get into even more trouble and don’t think I forgot about your other mistakes today!” He had come dangerously close during his rant and Katherine was on the verge of a breakdown. If the elevator doors wouldn’t open soon, she would most likely spiral into something similar like at the beginning of the trip. </em>
      </em>
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</p><p>
  <em>
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        <em>
          <em>Ding <em></em></em>
        </em>
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  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
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            <em>Finally, she had some form of luck. Before her teacher could realize what was happening, she dove around him and as soon as she was in the elevator, the doors closed, giving him no chance of following her. </em>
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            <em>Katherine walked slowly to the edge of the elevator and sat down. Her legs felt like jelly. Tears were streaming down her face and she couldn’t breathe. Thankfully, she didn’t have to tell Friday where to go and she just sat back, slowly closing her eyes. She was tired. </em>
          </em>
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    </em>
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</p><p>
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            <em>//////////////////////////// </em>
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            <em>Loki was lying awake in his and Kate’s room. He felt like he should be there for his girlfriend and not letting her having to deal with the events of the day alone. He had a bad feeling about leaving her alone with those other Midgardians. While Peter could help her, he was also still a kid and probably not even in a room with her.  </em>
          </em>
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            <em>Tony and Stephen were sitting on the couch in the living room, not being able to sleep after such a day. Tony was curled into Stephen’s side while he was caressing his hair and whispering sweet nothings every once in a while. It had taken a while to assure Tony that he would be safe and everything was alright. After the conference, they had made sure that the kid would never be able to intern at SI. The others had gone off to train to let out their frustration, or to their respective rooms after making sure the two would be alright, knowing that they needed some time alone.  </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
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            <em>Suddenly, the elevator’s doors opened, startling the couple. Tony lazily uncurled himself from his husband’s side and went to investigate.  </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        <em>
          <em>
            <em>“Shit, shit, shit!” </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        <em>
          <em>
            <em>“What is it?” Stephen asked, worry in his eyes.  </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        <em>
          <em>
            <em>But Tony didn’t answer, instead, he went into the elevator and came back with his unconscious daughter in his arms. </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
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        <em>
          <em>
            <em>“Shit...” Stephen repeated, “Lay her down on the couch, I’ll get something for her wounds.” </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
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            <em>Tony did as he was told, but before his husband could return, Loki appeared in the doorway, apparently having heard the commotion. </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
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            <em>“Shit,” Loki ran over to his girlfriend. “What happened?” </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        <em>
          <em>
            <em>“We don’t know,” Tony admitted. “She was in the elevator, already bleeding. She has most likely torn her stitches from earlier, again, and come here.”  </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
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        <em>
          <em>
            <em>Loki frowned and carefully examined her wounds. “It doesn’t look like she’s losing a lot of blood and the wound isn’t that deep. She must just be exhausted. I should be able to heal it.” </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
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            <em>Tony nodded and stepped back a bit while Loki was healing Katherine, leaving just a few scars as a memory. Stephen had come back and brought something to clean her and the couch from the blood.  </em>
          </em>
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            <em>A few minutes later, Kate came back to her senses. Her head was aching and her whole body was shivering. Loki put a blanket around her and sat down next to her. Kate immediately leaned into his touch, while her dads sat down on the couch next to them. </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
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      <em>
        <em>
          <em>
            <em>“What happened?” Stephen asked, breaking the silence. </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        <em>
          <em>
            <em>“Nightmare,” Kate muttered, closing her eyes and leaning even further into Loki’s side.<br/>
“Do you think you can take part in the trip tomorrow?” </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        <em>
          <em>
            <em>“I don’t know. Do you know what they’re supposed to do tomorrow?” </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
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      <em>
        <em>
          <em>
            <em>“We have to train them in self-defense and maybe in how to use their weapon of choice,” Tony butted in. Katherine shook her head. She was exhausted even thinking about physical exercise. </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        <em>
          <em>
            <em>“You are definitely <em>not<em> going to do any kind of exercise. You already pushed yourself too hard today,” Stephen declared. </em></em></em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>
      <em>
        <em>
          <em>
            <em>
              <em>
                <em>“Maybe I’ll join you later.” </em>
              </em>
            </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
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              <em>
                <em>“If you feel good enough, you can join them later but right now, you need some sleep,” Loki said, closing the conversation and carried Katherine bridal style to their room on the floor underneath the living room after saying good night to the other couple. </em>
              </em>
            </em>
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                <em>There, Loki gently laid her down next to him on their bed and kissed her on the forehead, prompting a small smile from his girlfriend, who was already half asleep. So that she wouldn’t feel cold again, he took her into his embrace and they slept peacefully through the night.</em>
              </em>
            </em>
          </em>
        </em>
      </em>
    </em>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Soooooooooo, the characters are really doing whatever they want at this point and I haven't technically planned for all of this to happen, so let's see where this is going! I'll also try to include the others more soon but the next chapter is finally going to be the backstory about Steve!</p><p>Feedback is always appreciated,<br/>Byee :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. BACKSTORYYYY</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm back, earlier than expected.<br/>Sooo, here is the long-awaited backstory to Tony and Steve. Be careful, there will be descriptions of the abuse and some blood (though not a lot, I think) Tell me if you want me to tag any triggers if there is something that is important to you!<br/>Enjoyy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Are you too dumb to follow my orders!?” Steve was angry again. Tony had disagreed with many of Steve’s decisions in the last few missions and done his own thing. That is why he managed to save at least a dozen more people. He knew he was right but he also knew that Steve would be angry if he undermined his authority like Steve liked to call it.  </p><p> </p><p>Friday had alerted Tony of Steve’s arrival beforehand and he had managed to shove Kate out of the kitchen into safety before Steve could drag her into it again. Now, she peeked around the door frame at the spectacle in front of her.   </p><p> </p><p>Steve’s face was contorted by anger while Tony tried to make himself look smaller and hoped to turn invisible.   </p><p> </p><p>Kate understood that she should go to her room or hide somewhere else, but the only way to get there was across the room.   </p><p> </p><p>Everyone had their own floor as a whole room, except the couples, if they wanted to share and reaching her room required her to take the elevator or the stairs which could increase Steve’s anger because he hated when she saw him like that.  </p><p> </p><p>“STOP!” Tony screamed when started hitting him but that didn’t stop him. A plate had broken at some point, probably from the lunch Tony had prepared for them and it might have not been a coincidence that Tony had a few more cuts than normal.   </p><p> </p><p>While Steve was completely focused on Tony, Kate had slowly crept across the room to the stairway but the picture of her father lying nearly motionless from pain on the floor was ingrained into her mind forever.  </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Where can I go?   </em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>I don’t wanna be alone.  </em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>He will find me too if I go to my room.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Deep in thought on where to go, Katherine had subconsciously stopped on Stephen’s floor.  </p><p> </p><p>/////////////////////////////////  </p><p> </p><p>The other Avengers never saw the abuse Tony and Katherine suffered. They had seen the occasional verbal fight but that had been a regular occurrence even before their relationship so they weren’t worried. Every time it had seriously escalated, it had been when the others were out on a small mission. Tony and Steve would usually stay behind on those to care for their daughter.  </p><p> </p><p>Stephen had one day also stayed behind because of an injury when Kate had suddenly come to him with tears running down her face. After he had somewhat established what had happened from the nearly incomprehensible rambling of a five-year-old, he had taken her into his embrace and sat with her until she had calmed down. On that day he had sworn to himself to protect her and Tony from this monster.  </p><p> </p><p>From then on Stephen has stayed behind on smaller missions as often as possible as well. Telling the others, he wanted to work on one thing or another. He wasn’t able to always be there as it might have been suspicious, so he had set up a corner in his room for Katherine with a blanket, books, and some stuffed animals where she would go whenever she wanted.  </p><p> </p><p>////////////////////////  </p><p>
  <em>Shit   </em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>How could I have messed up this badly?  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>She just wanted some orange juice and now there was broken glass and orange juice spilled all over the floor. She had been too short to reach the counter properly and had accidentally knocked everything to the floor.  </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I have to clean this up before he sees this.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Too late.  </p><p> </p><p>Before Kate could even get rid of all the shards of glass, Steve entered the kitchen, already in a bad mood.  </p><p> </p><p>“What did you do!?” He screamed at her when he saw the mess his six-year-old daughter made. “I told you before that you have to be careful in the kitchen!”  </p><p> </p><p>Steve grabbed her wrist, probably spraining it in the process, and pulled her close to him. With his other hand, he picked up one of the glass pieces still discarded on the floor. Kate was terrified.   </p><p> </p><p>“If even one sounds escaped you or Tony or the others find out about this, you won’t be able to ever tell anyone else about this, understood?” His tone was menacing and left no room for discussion.  </p><p> </p><p>Katherine closed her eyes, bracing herself. The pain followed soon after on her lower left arm. This was the first time she felt intended pain coming from a sharp object. She clasped her hand in front of her mouth when sobs threatened to escape her, though she couldn’t stop the tears.   </p><p> </p><p><em>STOP! Stop, please... </em> </p><p> </p><p>It was as if he had heard her thoughts because, after what felt like ages, he let go of her bruising wrist.  </p><p> </p><p>“Now, clean yourself and this mess up and forget this ever happened.” And with that, he disappeared.  </p><p> </p><p>When Katherine looked at her arm, blood was dripping from her forearm onto the floor and mixing itself with the juice. She quickly did as she was told, scared he would come back and continue, though she was more worried about her father. They were fighting, again.  </p><p> </p><p>Once she was finished cleaning the kitchen, her poorly made bandages were bleeding through and falling apart. She saw only one opportunity to not bleed to death and that would be to tell dad #2.   </p><p> </p><p>She had no other choice so she slowly went to the elevator and to Stephen’s floor, where he had stayed behind again.  </p><p> </p><p>“Kate, what happened?” Stephen immediately sprang up from where he was reading and examined her arm.  </p><p> </p><p>“S-Steve,” Kate broke off her explanation, the adrenaline finally leaving her body, causing her to break down.  </p><p> </p><p>“Shh, it’s alright. We’ll fix this, okay? Here, you can sit in your corner and I’ll handle these cuts.”  </p><p> </p><p>After her arm was properly bandaged, Stephen sat next to Kate in her safe space and hugged and whispered sweet nothings into her ear, successfully calming her down.  </p><p> </p><p>“Thanks, Dad,” Katherine murmured before drifting off to sleep in the arms of the newly named dad, who was trying hard to not break out into tears himself. He had dreamed of this day even though he knew it would never come and now one of his deepest wishes had come true.  </p><p> </p><p>“Sleep tight,” he whispered back, hoping for all of this to end soon.  </p><p> </p><p>///////////////////////  </p><p>Getting rid of Steve would have to be a permanent solution and it must be safe. Stephen has thought about it a lot, but in the end, he couldn’t do much without Tony. He would have to be the one to start the process. He couldn’t even intervene alone. The super-soldier would overpower him in a second.  </p><p> </p><p>He had talked about it multiple times with Tony and tried to convince him to tell the other Avengers when Steve would be out so they could overpower the super-soldier together and hand him over to the authorities but Tony was scared they wouldn’t believe him or they wouldn’t make it and it would all only get worse.  </p><p> </p><p>It was a quiet afternoon in summer, Katherine had been seven when Tony had finally decided to follow through with Stephen’s plan and Stephen had thanked the gods for it.   </p><p> </p><p>So, a few days later, when Steve wasn’t in the tower for his regular walk around town when Tony had gathered everyone else and told them about what Steve had done.  </p><p> </p><p>“Guys, I have to tell you something important,” Tony’s body tensed up, while Stephen rubbed his back to comfort him. “Steve has been abusing Katherine and me for the last three years and I need your help.” At this point, Tony’s voice was laced with desperation.  </p><p>The others looked horrified.  </p><p> </p><p>“Of course, we’ll help you.” Nat was the first one to speak up and everyone agreed.  </p><p> </p><p>“What do we do now?” Clint asked, looking at Kate, who had been hiding behind Tony, with a sadness in his eyes no one else had seen before.  </p><p> </p><p>The plan was easy: Bruce would stay with Kate in the safety of his lab while the others would catch Steve by surprise and restrain him. The police would be called by Friday when Steve would enter the building and Pepper would show lead them to the Avengers.  </p><p> </p><p>It turned out restraining Steve would be the easy part. Convincing the police that The Captain America was abusive had taken a while when they wouldn’t even believe the footage Friday showed them, at first.  </p><p> </p><p>In the end, they went to court and after Tony, Stephen and Kate spoke out against him with Friday providing the evidence, Steve was found guilty and sent to prison.   </p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, the press had picked up on the newest drama surrounding the Avengers and the divorce, as well as the imprisonment was made public. The reason, however, was never revealed due to Katherine’s privacy as it would have made her and Tony a target for the media for possibly lying, and it would have destroyed any hopes of a normal childhood. This led to some believing Captain America shouldn’t be in prison, which was an opinion some shared even ten years later.  </p><p> </p><p>////////////////////  </p><p>The hardest part after the trial had been getting back to normal.  </p><p>During missions, Nat and Bucky would usually take the lead, though they always planned everything as a whole group now.  </p><p>Stephen tried to take care of Tony and Katherine as much as possible, though Tony and he wouldn’t become a couple for at least another year.  </p><p>Katherine also started training with the others in self-defense so she wouldn’t end up in a similar situation.  </p><p> </p><p>All of them helped Tony and Kate to find healthy coping mechanisms and after a few months, both weren’t flinching every time someone entered a room unannounced or raised their voice.  </p><p> </p><p>Tony and Kate got to spend more time together, while the others all taught her at least one skill, as Steve often prohibited them from spending too much time with ‘his’ daughter.  </p><p> </p><p>Nat showed her how to properly braid her own hair and the girls and Bucky often spent their days braiding each other's hair. Bucky taught her how to bake the most delicious brownies in the world, while Clint taught her how to shoot arrows. Bruce lectured her about chemistry and biology and the two geniuses regularly build and improved suits and other similar things. Sam, Clint, and Kate also spent far too many hours playing Mario Kart, after Sam showed her how to use guns correctly.  </p><p> </p><p>When Thor had joined them after the attack on New York, he spent a lot of time learning Midgardian ways of living from Katherine.   </p><p> </p><p>It had taken years to build everything up again, and some field trip wasn’t supposed to destroy everything.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Welllll, this is the backstory!<br/>I've already started writing the next chapter and there Loki will find out about what Steve did.<br/>How did you like this chapter?<br/>Feedback is always appreciated, byee!!</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The Second Day</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heyyy, I actually managed to complete another chapter!!<br/>This one's a rather harmless one with some fluff and more quality time with Loki! Also, Bucky is more involved at the end,<br/>enjoy!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>Several years later (not yet the present)</em> </p><p>“Lokes? I want to tell you something.” Kate carefully slipped into their room where Loki was already in bed and reading yet another book. </p><p>It was around midnight, the penthouse filled with peaceful silence after an eventful day. Only the young couple was awake at this point. Katherine had been on the roof of the tower, thinking about whether she should tell her boyfriend about Steve.  </p><p>The sky was void of any cloud and it made for a beautiful view. The moon illuminated their room and let it appear in a silvery color.  </p><p>Loki looked up from his book with a worried look in his eyes. His frown deepened when he properly saw her. Loki closed his book, remembering which page he was on, and stood up, walking over to his girlfriend.  </p><p>Kate was wearing one of his many green t-shirts, her old scars openly visible on her arm and a pair of shorts. And although it was a warm summer night, she was shivering. Loki took her hand and led her to their bed, where he enveloped her in a blanket and held her in his arms. </p><p>This was always something that had bothered him. Katherine was often cold and shivering and he couldn’t provide her with enough body heat as a frost-giant even though she didn’t seem to be too bothered by it. </p><p>“Tell me whenever you feel ready, my dear.” He gently kissed the top of her head. </p><p>“I... you know that we never talk about Captain America, right?” It was hard for her to even pronounce that name, her voice nearly breaking. Loki hummed in agreement. </p><p>Katherine closed her eyes, trying to suppress the tears threatening to spill. </p><p>“He, well, he was dad’s first husband and he- he-” a tear escaped her, rolling down her cheek. Loki hesitantly took her face in his hands and kissed the tear away. Both now laid down and Kate snuggled up to her boyfriend her head in the crook of his neck, breathing in the smell of tea and old books with something icy. </p><p>“He abused Tony and me,” Kate murmured, her voice barely above a whisper, and Loki nearly didn’t hear her. Instead of saying something, he simply held her even closer. </p><p>“Loki?” The lack of response made her nervous. “You know,” she traced some nearly faded scars on her left forearm, making Loki curious, “I got my first scars when I was six... He cut me with shards of glass I broke.” </p><p>Loki slowly traced her scars as well, noticing the way Katherine flinched slightly at the cool touch. </p><p>“He was a monster,” Loki hissed out between gritted teeth.  </p><p>“Yeah, he certainly was.” </p><p>“Thank you for telling me, my love. I promise to never let anything similar happen to you again.” Seeing his girlfriend this way broke him and he carefully placed gentle kisses along her scars, completely focused on her reaction and be ready to stop if she felt uncomfortable. </p><p>From then on it was even harder for Katherine to part from Loki whenever he had to leave for Asgard as it felt like they had reached a new level of intimacy in their relationship. </p><p>////////////////////// </p><p>Gentle kisses on her whole body were what woke Kate up the next morning. She let her eyes closed to prolong his actions, but fooling a god, especially the god of lies, was nearly impossible.  </p><p>“I know you’re awake, love.” A smile crept onto her face, before she slowly opened her eyes, seeing her lover with tousled hair. Loki had once told her that he had rarely let anyone see him like that, considering he could fix it in seconds with his seidr. </p><p>The raven-haired god conjured a hairbrush with his magic and gave it to Kate, while both of them sat up in their bed. Then, she slowly started brushing his hair, but because she was still tired, she ended up leaning on him while carrying out their ‘lazy morning’ habit. </p><p>The couple had found out that this calmed both of them down. Regrettably, a slow start into the day was sacred if you live with the Avengers and so they learned to cherish the few days they got. </p><p>Afterward, Loki quickly checked Kate’s wounds on her back over and when he saw that she hadn’t torn them again, he also checked the ones on her forearm. Kate pulled her hand away reflexively, before slowly extending it again and letting him heal them, as he didn’t have the time to do it before, though Katherine concealed them with her magic again. </p><p>“You know you still have to tell them about this, right?” </p><p>“Yeah,” Kate mumbled absentmindedly, her cheeks taking on a slightly redder color. “I just... I don’t know. It felt like the right thing to do at the time...” </p><p>The Asgardian prince eyed her with a knowing look and pulled her from the bed, ending the conversation and letting the tension fade away with a kiss on her forehead. Both of them then quickly got dressed after Loki playfully scolded his girlfriend for stealing one of his green and definitely too big t-shirts again. Even if a t-shirt had always made her uncomfortable, a hot summer day demanded it, and surrounding herself with Loki’s smell made her feel safe. </p><p>/////////////////// </p><p>“I’m...afraid I can’t accompany you.”  </p><p>“Right, sorry. I forgot about...” Loki winced a bit. While he wasn’t exactly feeling hatred towards his frost giant form, he hated being reminded of it. While he would never mention Steve without Kate bringing it up, Kate never brought his origins up.  </p><p>Summers have always been hard for Loki, though together with Shuri and her non-magical dad, they built a cooling system that adjusted itself and Loki wouldn’t die of the heat, which could get extreme on the top floors of the Stark Tower. </p><p>Unfortunately, installing this system wasn’t easy and only a few floors were accessible for Loki, though they always worked to make it more available every day. The floor the group was using, hasn’t been one of the lucky floors as it was a lesser-used training room. After a quick parting kiss, Loki made his way to the library while Kate joined the field trip. </p><p> </p><p>The group had already gotten an introduction in self-defense and were in the process of warming up a bit. Katherine joined her friends. </p><p>“Harley, why do I never get to wear your stuff?” Peter asked his boyfriend with betrayal in his eyes.  </p><p>“Because you always lose them whenever you’re out on patrol.” </p><p>“That still isn’t fair.” Peter pouted, continuing with the exercises.  </p><p>After everyone was properly warmed up, some Avengers held a brief talk about each weapon the students could defend themselves within the next step, though they were mostly harmless. Kate had gotten the task to explain daggers, which were her favorite weapon and she played around with one during her explanation out of habit. </p><p>Katherine was in the middle of her talk about the advantages and disadvantages of defending yourself with a dagger when Mr. Warren decided to open his mouth again. </p><p>“Honestly, you probably don’t even know how to handle them. Captain America-” </p><p>In the blink of an eye, the dagger Katherine was holding only seconds ago, was gone. Instead, it was impaled in a target mere inches away from Mr. Warren’s face. Her breathing had become ragged trying to control her anger.</p><p>“Be careful what you say,” she snapped, glaring, “I’ve told you before and I’ll say it again. Never mention his name again.” </p><p>“Agreed. Now, you can get together in small groups and choose any weapon you like from this,” Stephen gestured to a cupboard with different weapons on display, “and one of us will show you how to defend yourself with them correctly. In the end, you can try and defend yourself against Natasha or Bucky.” </p><p>Everyone quickly scattered around the room. MJ went to Nat, who was responsible for self-defense with a dagger. The boys both went over to Sam, who would teach them hand-to-hand combat. Harley couldn’t participate and gave Peter a quick kiss before he had to stay with the teachers at the side of the room to watch the students and not let any harm come to them, though he knew it was unnecessary with all the superheroes. </p><p>Katherine stayed at the back of the training room with Bucky. </p><p>“I miss training,” the younger of the two complained. </p><p>“I’m sure Stephen won’t kill you if we improve your technique a bit, right?” Bucky suggested with a mischievous grin. After a quick glance at her overprotective dad, who had his hands full with a bunch of teenagers, she nodded, mirroring his smirk. </p><p>“Can you help me with my defense? The last time I tried this with Loki, I sprained my wrist and after that, I was kidnapped.” </p><p>The soldier was taken aback by how casual she was with this topic. </p><p>“Okay... how would you start?” </p><p>Kate quickly got out three of the four daggers she always carried on her and threw one to Bucky, while readying her stance. </p><p>“Now, I’ll try to attack you, slowly, and you’ll show me what you’d do.” </p><p>Then, Bucky raised his hand and feigned an attack towards her shoulder. Kate immediately blocked it. </p><p>“You have to hold your hand steadier or you can’t properly block it. Let’s try again.” </p><p>This went on for a long time until Kate started losing her concentration and was exhausted from the little exercise she got. The blood loss still weighed her down. When she glanced behind her, she saw Stephen and Tony looking at her skeptically, but they had to accept an apologetic look from her.  </p><p>After a quick break for everyone, the students were gathered in a circle with Nat and Bucky in the middle.  </p><p>“The first half of you will fight against Nat, the second half against Bucky. You are only allowed to defend yourself and Buck and Nat will go easy on you and no one will be harmed,” Tony scowled at the teachers. </p><p>The super soldier left the circle and joined Kate, who was leaning against the wall. </p><p>“Alright, K, I want you to tell me, what your classmates are doing wrong here. If you can’t join them, you’ll at least improve your observation skills.” </p><p>Kate nodded and concentrated on the first candidate, Henry. </p><p>“His stance is the problem, it’s too narrow and he won’t be able to stay stable,” she muttered, looking expectantly at Bucky, who nodded approvingly.</p><p>This went on for 15 minutes before Nat switched positions with Bucky.  </p><p>“This one’s going to be interesting,” Nat remarked after the first few fights, “Peter against Bucky. Any idea how long he’ll manage without catching his metal hand?” </p><p>“It’s Peter, surrounded by a lot of people. A maximum of five minutes.” </p><p>“We’ll see.” </p><p>In the end, the fight lasted seven minutes, until Peter nearly caught Bucky’s hand but stopped himself, letting his guard down. The other fights weren’t as interesting and over quickly. After such an exercise, everyone was hungry and Harley led them to the cafeteria.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Soooooo, how'd you liked it? <br/>I decided to rewrite some parts at some point after the story is finished and I've also started writing the next chapter already!!<br/>Feedback is appreciated and I love reading every single one of your comments<br/>Byee!! :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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